Oculus Thrift No More: VR Company Gets $75m In Funding

If I had any money to my name, instead of the bank account of debt and pockets full of lint that come with a life spent heroically writing about videogames, then I’d probably invest in the Oculus Rift too. That’s what a bunch of Silicon Valley venture capitalists have just done, slipping $75 million into the wallets of Oculus VR.
The Oculus Rift was originally funded via Kickstarter, with the $2,437,429 raised through its crowdfunding campaign being used to produce development kits to send out to the game industry. This is why we’ve seen CCP start work on EVE Valkyrie, developers retrofit support for the headset into their games, and a gradually expanding independent development scene building things for the platform.

As reported by GamesIndustry.biz, there’s a big difference between sending out a few thousand prototypes and establishing the infrastructure necessary to produce a consumer device. That’s where the Rift is headed next, and the funding is sure to help.

As part of the changes, Netscape founder Marc Andreessen will join Oculus VR’s board of directors. The company already has a few other recognisable faces, including Rift inventor Palmer Luckey and Chief Technology Officer John Carmack, who joined the company full-time last month. It’s still not a large company by any stretch, though I imagine they’ll be expanding now.

This latest round of funding follows an earlier whip round back in June, during which the company raised $16 million.

I’ve used the Rift a lot, and I think it’s an amazing piece of kit even in its larval, low-resolution devkit stage, and even if it makes your head feel like it’s being hugged by a sweaty dog.